


Arpeggio

by lirin



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, POV Jyn Erso
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:35:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29423172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lirin/pseuds/lirin
Summary: After Papa is stolen from them on Lah'mu, Mama promises Jyn that they're going to get him back.
Relationships: Galen Erso/Lyra Erso
Comments: 5
Kudos: 11
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	Arpeggio

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosecake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecake/gifts).



_Root_

"Mama?" Jyn whispered in the dark. She could feel her mother's arms wrapped around her as they sat together on the dirt floor of their hiding place, but she couldn't see her face. "Is Papa going to be okay? Did the bad men take him away?"

"Of course Papa's going to be okay," Mama whispered. "You and I are going to make sure of it." There was a soft clink as she did something with her blaster. It sounded like when she cleaned the weapons sometimes after Jyn had gone to bed.

"What did they want with Papa?"

"They wanted him for his knowledge and his intelligence, to help them build a weapon," Mama said. "But _I_ want him for himself, and that's more important."

"So you win?" Jyn asked, leaning her head against Mama's shoulder.

"Of course," Mama said. "I'm going to win. Krennic just doesn't know it yet."

_Minor third_

After what seemed to Jyn to be ages of waiting in the dark, Saw Gerrera arrived and took Jyn and her mother away. He kept himself busy planning many different battles, but Mama cared about one target and one target only: the kyber laboratory on Eadu where Papa had been taken. She never stopped talking about it, and Jyn didn't particularly want her to stop. When Saw talked about battles, they sounded quite frightening; he talked about "destabilizing the Empire" and about "acceptable losses" and about killing lots of people. When Mama talked about going to fight on Eadu, she talked about happiness and rescue, and about Papa coming home and being a family again.

"You're not going to die, are you, Mama?" Jyn whispered, the night before her mother was supposed to leave.

"Of course not," Mama whispered back. She hugged Jyn tight. "I'll be back before you know it, and I'll bring your Papa with me, and this time we'll find a place to hide where the Empire will never ever find us. It'll all be okay, you'll see."

Jyn wondered if Mama was saying all that to reassure Jyn, or to reassure herself. Jyn didn't feel very reassured, but she hugged Mama tight and didn't tell her how scared she was. Jyn didn't want to lose Mama too, but Mama said this was the only way to get Papa back. And if Saw couldn't talk Mama out of it, Jyn definitely wouldn't be able to. 

"Make sure you come back, Mama," Jyn whispered.

_Perfect fifth_

The mission didn't go as Saw and Mama had planned it, but at least Jyn was stuck back on the partisans' base and missed all the most scary parts.

It was frightening enough even then. Mama was gone for two weeks (it had been supposed to be two _days_ ) and none of the partisans said anything to Jyn about what was going on. Jyn played with her dolls and practiced with her blaster and wondered what her life would be like if she had no parents at all now. Would she have to stay with Saw? She wasn't sure if he liked her very much.

And then the ship came back, and Mama was there in a bacta tank, and next to her was Papa! Jyn shoved past all the tall adults around her and even past Saw himself, and threw her arms around Papa. She'd known Mama could do it, because Mama was wise and she loved Papa more than anything, but she'd been starting to worry that maybe they were wrong and Mama wasn't strong enough.

Papa bent down. "Hello, Stardust." Jyn was crying, but that was okay, because Papa had tears on his face too.

_Octave_

When Mama finally got out of the bacta, she looked happier than Jyn had seen her in years, maybe even since they'd first come to Lah'mu. She kept hugging Jyn and hugging Papa and laughing even though nothing was funny.

"Your Mama is very brave," Papa told Jyn quietly one day, and Jyn nodded. They were still staying with Saw's partisans, but they had found a little corner of the spaceship where they could sit by themselves and be left alone. "You should be proud of her," he added. "I am."

"What are we going to do now?" Jyn asked. "Mama said we're going to hide somewhere where the Empire can never find us."

Papa shook his head. "We already tried that, and it didn't work. Saw said he can get us false identity papers, but even those won't last forever if the Empire really wants to find us."

"We can't just give up," Jyn said. "Even if we can't hide forever, we should at least try to hide for as long as we can, right?"

"I've been talking to your Mama," Papa said, "and we have a different idea. We're going to join the Rebellion. We'll help them fight the Empire, and in exchange they'll help keep us safe from it."

"Do you think they'll be able to keep us safe?"

"Nobody's perfect, but I think it's the best chance we have," Papa said. He hugged Jyn tight. "It's not the life I would have chosen for you, Stardust, but we're going to be okay. We're going to help people and we're going to keep you safe."

Jyn hugged him back. "I don't care, just as long as I'm with you and Mama."

"Of course, Stardust. You will be, I promise."


End file.
